Nano in the US - any takers?

[GasSavers_BEEF]

yes but their job loss guarantee is just to take the car back. depending on the length of the loan and how long you have been paying on it, they may come out to the good on the deal. I don't know the details of that guarantee but it does make me wonder.

it also had helped them push cars in this pressing economy. and as far as warranties go, dodge has the best with the lifetime powertrain warranty but it isn't transferrable and if you alter the vehicle pretty much at all, the warranty is void.

*edit* that hasn't made me run out and buy from either of those companies.

[GasSavers_maximilian]

I thought the upside was it wouldn't mess with your credit score? Since you'd lose the car either way, that's an overall plus. Besides, I only meant that their marketing department was good at their jobs, not good in the morality sense!

[GasSavers_BEEF]

you are right about the marketing strategy on that one.

my concern is, would you be better off selling it yourself in some cases? if you only owe one more year on a five year loan. you could take it to carmax and get more than the payoff. it would be good for the first year or so, especially in this economy

[GasSavers_maximilian]

I'm sure you're correct. While not admirable, this sort of thing comes up all the time as it is. You can generally get more money selling your car yourself than trading it in, for example.

I was about to go into a rant, but stopped the impulse.

[theholycow]

Selling it yourself is likely to be impractical. For one thing, there's a good chance you'll be upside-down when you try to sell it, making it impossible. For another, you don't need to make two more loan and insurance payments while you wait for the car to sell. When you lose your job, you usually plan on getting a new job very soon, and you know you'll need a car so you hang on to it as long as you can...then one day you realize you're screwed and it's too late.

[GasSavers_maximilian]

How long are people upside-down for with typical car loans?

Here's a news story discussing Hyundai's plan.

[Jay2TheRescue]

A couple of years ago Mitsubishi was advertising no payments for like 2 or 3 years. I imagine all those people are upside down throughout the entire loan!

-Jay

[GasSavers_maximilian]

Yeah, but that ain't "typical".

My Accent was my first new car. I considered getting a loan just to build up my credit history, but didn't, so I have very little knowledge of car loan details. That's why I was asking.

[dkjones96]

Most loans for new cars put you into a position where you are upside down on the loan up until the last year of it.

Exceptions are loans that got more than 15% down over a short term and zero interest loans over a short term. A large down payment with a long term will start you out ahead but in the first two years the car depreciates faster than you are paying on it and zero interest loans usually just trade off interest for a lower payment instead of a shorter term so you end up with a car depreciating faster than you are paying.

[GasSavers_maximilian]

Until the last year? Yikes. Given the fast depreciation of new cars and the higher interest the bigger the principal is, I guess it figures.